QUOTE(CaptainRon @ Nov 4 2006, 05:32 AM) 
Need to disagree here. If science always needs proof, then I would like to ask you would led to the hypothesis of the 18th century that Sun was a giant ball of coal? What lead to the belief that earth had a giant magnet inside it? What lead to the hypothesis of "Hollow Earth Theory" in early 20th century? Einsteins theory of relativity got practically proved only after it was well accepted by the scientific community. Some of the theories of Stephen Hawkings are not close to practical understanding, let alone being proved! The reason is, these hypothesis's made sense in the context of the concerned era. As we came to know about Nuclear Fusion reactions, we could conclude that Sun has a similar chemical process. Similarly God is no wild imagination, but our term for the supreme creator. The day we understand him scientifically, our purpose of existence in this world will be over (atleast mine
).What my religion tells me, earth goes through a cycle of four epochs. These are called "yuga". In the first Yuga, man is very very close to God, there is no vice, and he understands his purpose of existence very well. He dedicates himself to God, there is no evil anywhere. Evil is defined as hate, jealousy or greed. In the second Yuga, evil gets introduced for the first time. People are by far good but some evil exists. Then in the third Yuga, evil starts gaining predominance over good. In the fourth Yuga, evil becomes an inherent property of nearly every human. What it means is that every person has a certain quantity of hate, jealousy and greed. It is also said that every new Yuga is started with the extermination of the previous Yuga and a select few are chosen to lay the foundation of the next Yuga.
This is exactly what Noah in Old Testament, Manu in Hindu Mythology and Gilgamesh in the Epic of Gilgamesh did. These three are the oldest literature in relation to God by three different races i.e. Semetics, Indo-Europeans and Summerians. Manu derives the word "Man" in most european languages and "Manav" in most Indian languages. When three speak the same theory, despite their geographical location, we are forced to attribute atleast some amount of truth to these ancient literature.
Now to continue, currently it is the fourth Yuga running, where there is some part of evil in almost everyone. It is said that by the end of the fourth Yuga, man would have found God, evil would be nullified and Man will realise the reason of his existence and then civilization will go back to the first Yuga.
Science needs proof. The hypothesis of a big ball of coal was derived from the hot Sun full of energy and the knowledge that time. The proof was sun itself and according to science you can derive hypothesis from current knowledge and when the knowledge advances you still have to check whether the hypothesis is right. When science advanced it was proven that sun is not made of coal. So science needs proof and it evolves too.
Science evolves with time just like we all did. Science don’t go by “some one told so” it goes by “show me how” .
Some of the people you mentioned (Manu and others) were scientists back then and they wrote the books best to their knowledge. Modern science does not discard any theories because they are old or religious. All theories are welcome if there is evidence to prove that. The concept of life cycles is proven in modern science it is proven by studying old rocks and deep inside earth.
This is just my personal opinion. I don’t intend to hurt anybody’s feelings. I am sorry if any one felt that way because of my comments.
.
